Range



Oct. 18, 1938. A SMiTH ET AL- 21,133,639

RANGE Filed July 24, 193e 2 sheets-sheet 1 lllllllli.. :M 1 ,lr i l ,'19I f l l i 4 I l Y; 5 i u N g- INVENToRs'- El BY M mm l A ToRN Oct. 18,1938. A. 1 SMITH ET AL 2,133,639

RANGE Filed July 24, i956 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented Oct. 18, 1938 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE RANGE turing Co., Boston, Mass.,

Massachusetts a corporation of Application July 24, 1936, Serial No.92,332

Claims.

This invention relates to cooking ranges, and is more especiallyconcerned with oven structures of such ranges. The invention aims toimprove such structures with a View to facilitating the use of the oven,reducing the labor involved in connection with baking, roasting, andsimilar operations performed in the oven, and conserving the heatgenerated in the oven for the purpose of performing these operations.

The nature of the invention will be readily understood from thefollowing description when read in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

In the drawings,

Figure l is a perspective view of a portion of a range equipped with anoven structure embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical, sectional View, with parts in elevation, throughthe lower portion of the oven;

Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the oven drawer;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of parts of said drawer; and

Fig. 5 is a plan view oi a portion of the drawer, showing a rack mountedtherein.

The drawings show the invention as embodied in an electric range,although it will be understood that the invention is equally applicableto ranges heated in other ways. A portion of such a range is indicatedin Fig. l at 2, the oven chamber being shown at 3, and the upper andlower electric heating units for it being indicated at 4 and 5,respectively.

Slidably mounted in the oven is a drawer comprising front and rear endpieces S and 'I rigidly connected together by two channel bars B and 9.

The front and rear ends of these bars are also connected by metalmembers which cooperate with the bars to forma skeleton or frame onwhich the end pieces are supported. The front end piece 6 forms theclosure for the oven chamber and corresponds, in general, so far as thisfunction is concerned, to an oven door. Forthe purpose of slidablysupporting the drawer, two stationary channel bars II! and II aresecured rigidly to the opposite side walls of the oven to receive thechannel bars or runners 8 and 9, respectively, of the drawer, as bestshown in Fig. 2. Considering for the moment the channel bar I9, as shownin Figs. l and 2, it will be observed that it is equipped near the frontof the oven with three rolls, designated at I2, I3 and I4, respectively,each of the ball bearing type, and like the middle roll I3 shown in Fig.2. The upper flange or rail of the runner 8 rides on these rolls and, incertain positions of the drawer, the lower rail of this runner also runson the rolls. At the opposite side of the oven the channel II issimilarly equipped with rolls indicated by the same, but primed,numerals.

With this arrangement the drawer may be moved in or out with a minimumof eiort. While this is a substantial advantage from the standpoint ofthe housewife, nevertheless this very condition makes it necessary toprovide some means for holding the oven closed with the front end piece5 firmly against the front walls of the oven chamber in order to avoidthe escape of heat from the oven. Latches are objectionable for thispurpose, both because they require operation, and also for the reasonthat many states have regulations providing that the oven shall becapable of opening automatically in the event of an explosion in it. Itis one of the objects of this invention to solve this difficulty.

In the arrangement shown, a thoroughly satisfactory solution for thisproblem has been provided by mounting the front roll I4, Fig. 4, at aslightly higher elevation than those in the rear of it, and cutting outa portion of the upper rail of the channel bar 8 to provide a shoulderI5, Figs. 3 and 4. This shoulder is located at such a distance from thefront end piece 6 that as the latter moves rearwardly in closing thedrawer, and when it has almost reached its closed position, the shoulderat that time has just ridden over the top of the roll I4 and is restingon the rearward slope of this roll. Consequently, the weight of thedrawer, and the load which it carries, acts through this shoulder andthe roll to complete the closing movement of the drawer automatically.The same construction is provided at the opposite side of the drawerincluding the parts I4 and I5. These parts also act in the manner justdescribed and cooperate with the parts I4 and I5 to produce said closingmovement of the drawer.

Fig. 4 shows approximately the position of the parts with the drawerfully closed, and it will be evident that these same rolls, and the railshoulders which bear on them, tend to yieldingly hold the drawer in itsclosed position. It will also be evident from an inspection of Fig. 4that any opening movement of the drawer will be resisted by the factthat the shoulder I5 must ride up on the roll I4, and that thisresistance will continue until the shoulder has reached the top centerof the roll, at which time it will disappear and the drawer then can beopened as freely as though this shoulder construction were not present.Since both this resistance to opening, and also the automatic nalclosing movement of the drawer, are produced by gravity, their effectwill be made more pronounced by any increase in the weight of the draweror its load.

The utensils holding the food which is to be baked, roasted, orotherwise cooked in the oven, are supported on one or more racks whichpreferably are of the general form shown at I'I in Fig. 5, or at II' inFig. 1. 'I'hey are mounted in ribbed or grooved members I8 and 2|]secured to the inner surfaces of the end plates 6 and 'I, respectively.These supporting ribs are disposed horizontally and the racks are of awidth only slightly less than that of the oven, so that they are held ina laterally centered position in the drawer by the walls of the oven,except when the drawer is fully open, At that time the racks can beslipped laterally out of their supporting members I8 and 20, adjusted upor down, or disposed in any manner suited to the requirements of theparticular work in hand. When the drawer is again closed it may be thatone or more of the racks will be Slightly displaced laterally. However,the ends of these racks are rounded or bevelled in a horizontal plane sothat when the drawer is closed, the rounded or bovelled edge of anyslightly misplaced rack will engage the upright front edge of the ovenwall as the drawer is closed, and such engagement, combined with theclosing movement of the drawer, will slide the rack or its guides I8 and20 into an approximately laterally centered position in the drawer, thisaction taking place automatically and without any attention on the partof the housewife.

The rack II' is essentially like that shown at II except that it isequipped with a plate a, Fig. l. This rack is designed to be placed inthe bottom pair of grooves in the end plates 6 and 'I where it will bepositioned immediately above the lower heating unit 5. Here the plate aacts as a baille and distributes the heat more uniformly than otherwisewould be the case. In other words, it forms a false bottom for thedrawer, no bottom plate being included in the construction of the draweritself.

It should be observed that this drawer construction permits thehousewife to slide the entire load in the drawer completely out of theoven and into a position where she can inspect it, make any changes init desired, and return it again without lifting any of the trays, pans,or other utensils. Thus this construction materially lightens the laborinvolved in cooking in an oven.

This work is further facilitated by providing means for stopping-theopening movement of the drawer in two positions; one in which the draweris not fully open, but is nearly so, thus permitting a completeinspection of the contents of the drawer while still holding the rackslocked between the walls of the oven against substantial lateraldisplacement, and a second, fully-open position in which the racks areentirely outside the oven and can be removed or readjusted, as desired.

For this purpose a small lug 2 I, Fig. 3, is welded or otherwise rigidlysecured to the lower rail of the channel 8, Figs. 3 and 4, near itsrearward end. This lug is so spaced from the front of. the drawer thatwhen the drawer has been opened to the rst position above described, itwill engage the rear roll I2 and thus arrest further opening movement.At this time the greater part of the drawer is out of the oven so thatthe lower rail bears against the roll I2 with considerable pressure.Thus the lug acts as an effective stop. However, if the housewifedesires to open the drawer further, she can easily do so by lifting thefront end of the drawer slightly, at the same time pulling on it, thuscausing the lug 2| to ride under the roll I2, and releasing it from theroll. The further opening movement brings this lug into contact with thesecond roll I3 where it again stops the opening movement of the drawer.In this position the lug is even more effective than before because thedrawer is farther out and is exerting a greater leverage serving topress the lug 2| upwardly against the roll I3. However, if it is desiredto take the drawer out of the range completely, this can be done bygrasping it at opposite sides, lifting the front far enough to free thelug from the roll I3, and drawing it forward completely out of thechannels I0 and II. A similar lug is secured to the bar 9. It will beobserved that the runners 8 and 9 project for a considerable distanceback of the rear end plate I and extend through holes in the back wall22, Fig. 4, of the oven chamber when the drawer is in its closedposition. This arrangement gives that length to the runners necessary tosupport the drawer securely when it is in its fully opened position. Itmay also be noted that in this position the bottom flange of the runner8 bears hard against the lower side of the roller I3 while the topflange rides on the upper side of the roller I4, a correspondingrelationship existing at the opposite side of the drawer. Thus thedrawer is easily moved inward even though it may carry a heavy load.

Upon opening the oven of any range, there is an out-rush of heat and inan electric range the thermostatic control for the oven usually willoperate very quickly to turn the current on to the heating units. Inorder to conserve the greater part of this heat and to reduce the wasteof electrical energy when the oven is open, the rear end plate I is madeas large as possible consistent with the necessary clearances, so thatit will approximately close the front of, the oven when the drawer is ineither of the open positions above described. Obviously in the first ofthese positions the end plate I is located just back of the front end ofthe oven chamber, While in the fully opened position it is slightly infront of the open end of the chamber. Thus the hot air in the oven willbe largely trapped and the rate of interchange of this air with thatoutside the oven will be reduced to negligible limits.

While we have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of ourinvention, it will be understood that the invention may be ernbodied inother forms without departing from the spirit or scope thereof.

Having thus described our invention, what we desire to claim as new is:

1. In a range, an oven structure comprising an oven chamber, anopen-sided oven drawer mounted in said chamber for horizontal slidingmovement into and out of said chamber, said drawer comprising front andrear end plates and bars connecting said plates and cooperating withthem to form a rigid drawer structure, said bars extending rearwardly aconsiderable distance beyond said rear end plate and forming runners,two stationary channel bars secured to the opposite side walls of saidoven chamber, said runners being mounted in said stationary bars,

and rolls cooperating with said channel bars to slidably support saidrunners.

2. In a range, an oven structure comprising an oven chamber, anopen-sided oven drawer mounted in said chamber for horizontal slidingmovement into and out of said chamber, means in said drawer foradjustably supporting horizontal racks on which the cooking utensilsrest, said means supporting said racks for horizontal sliding movementlaterally of the drawer into and out of the drawer, and means forarresting the opening movement of said drawer before it reaches itsfully open position and while the rear ends of said racks are stillwithin the oven, said arresting means being releasable to permit afurther opening movement of said drawer, and means for stopping thelatter movement at a predetermined point after the racks have clearedthe oven.

3. In a range, an oven structure comprising an oven chamber, anopen-sided oven drawer mounted in said chamber for horizontal slidingmovement into and out of said chamber, said drawer comprising front andrear end plates and bars connecting said plates and cooperating withthem to form a rigid drawer structure, said bars extending rearwardly aconsiderable distance beyond said rear end plate and forming runners,two stationary channel bars secured to the opposite side walls of saidoven chamber, said runners being mounted in said stationary bars, aplurality of rolls cooperating with each of said channel bars toslidably support said runners, and means cooperating with said rolls tostop said drawer in a fully opened position and in another position inwhich the drawer is sufliciently open for the inspection of its contentsbut in which the rear end plate is inside the oven.

4. In a range, an oven structure comprising an oven chamber, anopen-sided oven drawer mounted in said chamber for horizontal slidingmovement into and out of said chamber, said drawer comprising front andrear end plates and bars connecting said plates and cooperating withthem to form a rigid drawer structure, said bars extending rearwardly aconsiderable distance beyond said rear end plate and forming runners,two stationary channel bars secured to the opposite side walls of saidoven chamber, said runners being mounted in said stationary bars, rollsmounted to revolve on stationary axes and cooperating with said channelbars to slidably support said runners, said runners having partsengaging said rolls and serving to produce a iinal closing movement ofsaid drawer by gravity.

5. In a range structure according to preceding claim`1, an arrangementin which said runners are channel bars and a plurality of said rolls arelocated closely adjacent to the front of the oven chamber on each sidethereof where the bottom flange of each runner will bear against thelower side of one roll while the top ange rides on another roll when thedrawer is in its open position, said runners having parts cooperatingwith said rolls to stop the drawer in a plurality of open positions.

ALBERT L. SMITH. HAROLD M. PARSONS. RANDALL QUESSY.

